Shrine Dedicates New Organ with Mass & Concert

The Rodgers 3-manual Trillium organ console along with its six ranks of pipe work

During afternoon mass on Saturday, April 27, the Roman Catholic Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer dedicated their new hybrid, digital organ with pipes.

Father Bob Stoeckig, Las Vegas Catholic Diocese Vicar General and Pastor of the Las Vegas Catholic Cathedral, presided with the assistance of Father Manuel Quintero, Rector of the Shrine.

The choir from St. Joseph Husband of Mary, directed by Joseph Cruz, joined with the Shrine choir, under the direction of Bob Grant, with Barbara Finn, organist. Barbara was the first organist to serve the Shrine when it opened in 1993.

Following the mass, the church presented an organ recital with William Vaughn, dean of the San Francisco chapter of the AGO. Vaughn is the Director of Music and School Music Teacher at Assumption Catholic Church in San Leandro, California.

William Vaughn’s varied program was especially suited to showcasing the Rodgers digital & pipe hybrid instrument, including works registered specifically for the pipe work, to highlight the abilities of the digital voices and to demonstrate the power and grandeur of the pipes and digital voices in concert together.

In celebration of the day, Vaughn opened with the triumphant “Festival Alleluia” by Dan Miller, followed by Elgar’s Salut d’Amour, the Ronde Française by Léon Boëllmann and Marche-Sortie by Théodore Dubois. He ended the first half of the recital with the Adagio from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A-Major.

One of the absolute highlights of the day occurred when Vaughn invited one of his students to the console. Twelve year old Tim Warncke performed an exuberant rendition of Bach’s Prelude in C Major, S. 531... from memory. Warncke, a student at Assumption Catholic School, began his studies in organ about three years ago and also enjoys soccer, basketball, snowboarding and reading.

The second half of the recital included Waltz (Jazz Suite) by Shostakovich ...which was dedicated to the Shrine’s operations director Merlyn Thompson, Capriccio (Sleeper’s Awake) by Daniel Gawthrop and Variations on St. Denio (A Hymn Tune) by Hector Oliveria. This piece written for organ is a wonderful tour through the instrument’s various voices. Vaughn concluded with Lied (Song) for Lent by James Aylward, based on a fitting Catholic theme, and finally Festival Toccata on “St. Anne” by Fred Swann.

The Organ: The instrument is a three manual Trillium Organ by Rodgers Instruments. It is the digital equivalent of 125 pipe ranks and includes 6 ranks of windblown pipe work: Montre 16’ (TC), Principal 8’, Gemshorn 8’, Koppelflöte 8’, Octave 4’ and Flute 4’. The hybrid instrument has a specification of 131 organ voices and over 200 additional organ and non-organ samples both internally and externally through the MIDI system sound module, Rodgers MX200.

Design, installation and tonal finishing was accomplished by Dr. Robert Tall of Robert Tall and Associates (Palm Springs, CA); Robert Knight of Knight Pipe Organ Company (San Diego) and Christian Lentz of Christian Lentz Organ Services (Las Vegas).

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